Rudi Garcia praised Roma’s belief, as they “never stopped playing right to the end” for a 2-1 win over Torino.

“We never stopped playing, right to the end, and the second goal was well constructed,” he told Sky Sport Italia.

“Against a very smart Torino side, we knew they would hit us on the counter-attack and we made a few too many mistakes in midfield.

“I am happy, as we played with intelligence and above all that desire to win, as we ended the match with six forwards on the field.

“We’ve been scoring at least two goals per game for a while, so that means the front line is working well. We need a little more patience when playing against a side like this, that’s all.”

Rafael Toloi was given his debut in defence to replace the suspended Mehdi Benatia.

“Leo Castan had a fantastic game and beforehand I told him to be a protagonist when it came to controlling the back four. Toloi did very well and Immobile’s goal was fantastic, so there wasn’t much to do about it.”

Garcia was seen unusually excited at Alessandro Florenzi’s last-gasp winner, leaping for joy on the touchline.

“It’s just because we scored in stoppages. These victories are very important psychologically both for us and for our opponents.

“Roma are not our direct rivals for position, so a draw or a defeat against them was the same thing. That’s why I introduced all those forwards to push for the victory and run the risk. We were fortunate that we scored that fine goal at the end.

“Florenzi is always positive, even when coming off the bench. This proves we win not only with the starting XI, but with the whole squad.

“Why hasn’t Florenzi started lately? When we play with Pjanic in midfield, who is almost a trequartista, and three forwards it is difficult to find space for the others. We had won our last two games, so it seemed right to continue like that.”

Roma are now solidly in second place and still have a game in hand against Parma.

“On a par with the rest in terms of games played, we have a nine-point advantage over Napoli and that is an important buffer.”

President James Pallotta was in the media area behind the camera and jokingly handed his Coach a ‘bonus’ by emptying his pockets of €95 cash.

The patron has flown in from Boston to present the plan for the new stadium on Wednesday.

“Tomorrow is a great day for us, an historic one for the club, and we are happy to go into it with three more points.”